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Fracking - Jurassics

Submitted by Benefitz Betty on Wed, 2016-11-23 05:08

The 'fracking' presentation hosted by SBC on the 21st November open to the public was an invitation not to be missed. Frack Free Scarborough were in good form and expectations of a pitch by a Cuadrilla, INEOS or any T-Rex 'fracking' team were dashed when, the mysterious 'surprise' presenter turned out to be the NYMNPA Director of Development, Mark Hill.

Why Am I here? he asked.

•22 years in Planning in West & North Yorkshire, last five dealing with conventional gas applications.

•Likely to be some permitted development seismic surveys & ownership enquiries of the areas to target potential sites to apply for planning permission to bore.

•Typically OGA expects companies to have a proper exploration programme running within 6 yrs, appraisal wells within following 4 yrs, and production within the following 10yrs or they loose whole or part of license area.

•Oil & Gas applicants ask MPA|’s for EIA screening/scoping opinions and these available on public EIA register.

•Questions about technical issues most likely to be found in EIA Statement accompanying any Fracking Planning application.

•Listen to both sides. Clearly two sides to the argument : based on need for energy supplies for heating homes versus potential risks to the local ecosystems and wider environment and : make your own mind up.

•Still early days to determine where the overriding public interest will eventually lie and whether there will be a ‘social license to operate’ for the Fracking Industry.

"Ministers deliberately delayed a controversial fracking report it was being forced to publish until after crucial council decisions on planning permission, according to newly revealed documents.
The documents also show ministers acknowledged they were open to a charge of double standards, having granted local communities the final say over windfarm applications but overruling fracking decisions.
The documents reveal “dirty tricks” and “deceit”, according to shadow ministers, councillors and green campaigners, which strengthen fears that the government is determined to force shale gas exploration on communities....

"While the energy department released documents related to the publication of the report, Defra is still refusing to follow suit. “Ministers should publish the correspondence on fracking that Defra has been hiding for more than a year,” said Martin. “This is an opportunity for May’s government to make a clean break with the past and prove they can be trusted.”
A government spokesman said: “We complied fully with the information commissioner’s [FOI] ruling that we publish the report within the established timescales,” ie within 35 days of 9 June 2015.

He said: “As the material made clear, we do not believe this internal document – which was incomplete and had not been peer-reviewed – was sufficiently analytically robust to inform policy-making.”

"MORE than half of people support the current temporary ban on fracking in Scotland just months after the first imports of shale gas arrived on the country’s shores, according to a new opinion poll.

Fewer than a fifth of the 1,000 people questioned over the controversial issue are opposed to the ban on the process which sees natural gas extracted from the earth.

The Scottish Government has retained its moratorium announced in January last year, despite petro-chemical giant Ineos making the first shipments of the gas to Grangemouth in September, and plans a public consultation next year.

Opposition politicians said the BMG survey for The Herald showed ministers should ban fracking completely.

But the Scottish Government said it showed Scots back their decision it was determined to take a “cautious, evidence-led approach”.

Opening up a new front of carbon-based energy production would do nothing to meet climate commitments, he added.

“While the indications are that the Scottish Government is heading towards a ban, they still remain nailed to the fence.

“If the SNP are serious about tackling climate change, ministers must join the Scottish Liberal Democrats in unequivocally ruling out fracking.”

Lang Banks, the director of WWF Scotland, said: “It’s great to see a majority of Scots have seen through the PR spin of the fossil fuel industry and are in favour of a fracking ban.”

He urged Scottish ministers to “listen to the public and implement a ban on fracking as they have already done on underground coal gasification”.

The survey also found 20 per cent of Scots reject the idea that global warming is related to human action.

But the Scottish Government said ministers were determined to take a “cautious, evidence-led approach”.

The poll found also that support for gas exploration collapsed when the word “fracking” was mentioned.

The process sees water, sand and chemicals pumped deep underground at high pressure to fracture shale rock and release gas.

However, the SNP Government has come under pressure to make a long-term decision after the Grangemouth refinery began importing US shale gas to Scotland in September.

Scottish ministers are to hold a public consultation next year.
The poll asked: “The Scottish Government currently has a temporary ban on fracking in Scotland. Do you support or oppose the continuation of the ban?”

BMG found that 54 per cent of Scots said that they supported a ban, 19 per cent were opposed, while the rest said that neither option fitted their opinion.

The poll, of 1,039 people in October, found SNP and Labour voters opposed fracking, while Conservatives backed it."

"Councillors Dennis and Gerry Goldie made their views known at a meeting of Falkirk Council’s executive committee on Tuesday as members discussed a report on local nature conservation.

Gerry Goldie questioned why Ineos was importing shale gas from the USA when it was right under their feet in Airth and his brother Dennis branded members of Falkirk SNP group “cowardly” for signing a document which could prevent them from voting for or against fracking in the future.

Addressing Labour council leader Craig Martin, Councillor David Alexander said: “You have had two members of your group who have made it quite clear they are pro fracking, while your party opposes fracking.

“I would like to know where the local administration leans on the issue of fracking.”

Councillor Martin responded he did not mind his members speaking their mind, but the Labour Party had made its opposition to the process quite clear, while the SNP government had yet to do so.

He said: “The SNP does not oppose fracking, they instead have a moratorium in force which means the leadership may take the decision in the future that fracking could happen in Scotland.”

Quackers ..

"More locally, the East Riding's main priorities are far right extremism, animal rights and anti-fracking."

"“The suggestion that the local anti-fracking campaign is a threat to young people at risk of recruitment into terrorism is unfounded and should be publicly withdrawn immediately.

“The implications of children being taught to spy on and report each other, or parents who are anti-frackers, to teachers or the police is a shocking reminder of the tactics of the Gestapo or Stasi."

The retired education director fromBeverley said residents who campaigned to stop exploration at Crawberry Hill, Walkington, included librarians, probation officers, social workers, teachers, .... a university lecturer and a professor."

"The company behind the UK's first horizontal fracking operation has announced six "commitments" which it claims will ensure Lancashire benefits.

Cuadrilla's plans for fracking at its Preston New Road site at Little Plumpton were approved in October.

The firm says it will put Lancashire first for creating jobs, new skills, investment, and community initiatives.

Opponents said they were surprised by the news since a legal challenge to the government's decision is outstanding.

Preston New Road Action Group issued formal legal proceedings at the High Court in November.

Cuadrilla's commitments

Increase energy security for Lancashire and Britain

Carry out our operations to the highest safety and environmental standards and communicate openly

Work with local partners to promote Lancashire as a hub for the UK shale gas industry with new jobs and economic growth

Prioritise Lancashire suppliers and publish the amount we are spending

Support local training opportunities for young people including the National Onshore Oil and Gas College based at Blackpool & The Fylde College

Share the benefits of shale gas by sponsoring educational and sporting projects and through a local community benefit scheme

Cuadrilla said an "independently audited tracker" will monitor its pledges to Lancashire.

Chief executive Francis Egan said the shale gas industry would be good for the county's economy.

"We expect that in the exploration phase alone we will spend in the order of £50m - clearly all of that will not go to Lancashire... but we would hope that up to half of that money could get spent in Lancashire," he said.

The firm also said Bolton-based civil engineering firm AE Yates Ltd has been awarded the site's £1.5m building contract.

1. Further to the programme announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement, the Government is making £800,000 available in 2016/17 to support mineral planning authorities dealing with shale planning applications.

2. The Government recognises shale represents a new area for mineral planning authorities and that it will present complex and challenging issues for them in processing shale planning applications. This prospectus sets out how mineral planning authorities can bid for funding to improve their capacity and capability to deal with shale planning applications...

Activists moved on to private farmland near the site just before Christmas.

Third Energy said its operations would be developed in a "safe, discreet and environmentally-sensitive way".

It intends to frack an existing well - KM 8 - to establish whether gas can be commercially extracted, but the company has not yet indicated when it intends to begin the tests.

Campers said hundreds of people had come to show their support since the site was established...

"Louise Hammond, from Lincolnshire, said: "This field we've taken will be full before long and it's absolutely massive.

"This is the focus now, nationally. If we can't do anything here then that's it. It's a line in the sand."

The camp was erected about two miles from the well next to a main road, with protesters entering the site without the permission of the landowner.

The occupied land is believed to be the property of Gordon Gibb, the owner of the nearby Flamingoland theme park and zoo...."

"Campaign group Frack Free Ryedale said: "A group of people have chosen to set up a protection camp to raise awareness of concerns about the fracking industry and the dangers it poses to health, well-being and the environment".

A Third Energy spokesperson said: "Third Energy has been producing gas and energy in Ryedale in a safe, discreet and environmentally sensitive way for more than two decades.

"We look forward to being able to develop our operations in the future in the same safe, discreet and environmentally-sensitive way."